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Fifth European Conference on Space Debris, 2009 Mar 30-Apr 2 Pg 6 of 26 Background Conjunction analysis needs full-catalog orbital data –TLEs are currently the only such source Low accuracy results in high false-alarm rate Current system limited to non-cooperative tracking –US SSN uses combination of radar and optical resources Operational satellites most difficult to track due to maneuvers –Maneuvers typically not known ahead of time –Delays in detecting maneuvers can result in poor accuracy or even ‘lost’ satellites –Requires more SSA resources to maintain orbits